Name:_______________________________________ Date:__________________________ Block:________
PARKING LOT SPECIES DIVERSITY LAB
The diversity of species present in an ecosystem can be used as one gauge of the health of an ecosystem. Species richness is
a measure of the number of different species present in an ecosystem, while species evenness measures the relative abundance of
the various populations present in an ecosystem. In an ecological survey designed to measure species diversity, a wildlife
biologist might determine the number of individuals of each species present in an area and then calculate a "diversity index" for
the area. Comparison of the diversity index with that of other areas provides insights into the species diversity and the health of
the ecosystem.
In this activity your "ecosystem" will be the school parking lot, and the "species" will be the different car models for the
parking lot. As a class, we will be comparing the species diversity of the student and staff parking lots. The diversity index we
will use is the Shannon Diversity Index. After determining the number of each species (or car), in each plot (or parking lot), the
Shannon Diversity Index will be calculated separately for the different plots (or student lot and the staff lot). A rich ecosystem
with high species diversity has a large value for the Shannon Diversity Index (H'), while an ecosystem with little diversity has a
low H'.
ni
pi = N
H' = –
S
 pi (ln (pi))
i=1
(Equation 1)
(Equation 2)
ni = number of individuals of species "i"
N = total number of individuals of all species
pi = relative abundance of species "i" (see equation 1)
S = total number of species
H' = The Shannon Diversity Index (see equation 2). This will range from a 0 for a community with a single species to over
a 7 for a very diverse community
Materials
 2 parking lots full of cars (student and staff lots)
Procedure
1.
Visit the plot area of the school’s staff parking lot that was assigned to you and collect data in your data table. You are
recording the make (species) of each car in your area.
2.
Visit the second plot area of the school’s student parking lot that was assigned to you and collect data in your data table.
You are recording the make (species) of each car in your area.
3.
When we get back to the classroom, you will share data your data with the class and record your results in the Class Data
Table.
Prelab Question—Write out and answer the following questions
1.
Identify which parking lot you expect to be the most diverse, and defend your choice.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Group Data Table for Parking Lots:
Staff Lot:
Species
Number of
Individuals
Record Your Observations of the Plot Area
Student Lot:
Species
Number of
Individuals
Record Your Observations of the Plot Area
Class Data Table for Staff Parking Lot:
Species
i
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Totals
—
ni
pi
ln (pi)
pi (ln (pi))
Data Table for Student Parking Lot:
Species
i
Totals
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
—
ni
pi
ln (pi)
pi (ln (pi))
Data Analysis
1.
Determine the value for the Shannon Diversity Index for the student and staff parking lots. Show all of your work below.
Post Lab Questions—Write out and answer the following questions
1.
Identify the parking lot that was the most diverse. Based on your observations during the lab, explain why your prediction
in question #1 of the prelab was supported or not supported.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2.
List the single most abundant species in each set of data, and write a plausible explanation to explain why these are the
most abundant species.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3.
If you conducted this lab in an airport parking lot, predict whether the Shannon Diversity Index would be high or low, and
how it would compare to your plot areas.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4.
If you conducted this lab on a Honda car dealership car lot, predict whether the Shannon Diversity Index would be high or
low, and how it would compare to your plot area.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5.
Compare and contrast species richness to biodiversity (Shannon Diversity Index).
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________